


After Hours with Glass Cleaner

by nightmarekitt



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: AU, Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Janitor!Danny, M/M, Pompous Pep, Principal!Vlad, ghost forms are go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 08:19:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2302913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightmarekitt/pseuds/nightmarekitt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vlad is the Principal of a school. Danny is a janitor. One late-night encounter sparks something unstoppable between them, but with all the obstacles that stand in their way, can things really work out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I came across an interesting idea on tumblr yesterday. The "prompter" so-to-speak is ohno-genitals (gosh that name!) and the prompt was something along the lines of Vlad as a Principal of a school and Danny as a Janitor who comes into Vlad's office one night to clean while Vlad is there. Sparks fly. You know the rest, but if you don't, well...here it is.

There's something about staying late in the office that makes you want to leave off as many lights as possible.  So it stood that Vlad Masters sat at his desk working only by the light of his computer screen, the dim blue light reflecting off of the lenses of his square-rimmed glasses.

He was about 1200 words deep into an urgent letter that needed to be sent out to the teaching staff the next morning, when he heard the distinct sound of someone jamming a key into doorhandle to his office.  Then, to Vlad's utter dismay, the key-holder strolled in liked they owned the place.

The intruder froze in his tracks at seeing the principal sitting behind his desk, and Vlad certainly must have appeared creepy with nothing but the light of the monitor highlighting his face and the crisp edges of his fitted suit.

The intruder was clearly the janitor.  He wore pale blue coveralls dotted with bleach stains, had a trash bag slung over one shoulder, and kept a rag and a few spray bottles clipped onto his belt.  Behind him, Vlad could see a trolley full of cleaning supplies and a yellow mop bucket in the hall.

To break the awkward silence, Vlad said, "I'll be done in just a moment.  By all means, carry on."

Vlad's eyes were already back on the monitor by the time the janitor continued his work, as he moved things around the office and started making a handful of sounds one could generally associate with cleaning.

Including humming.

There was a lot of humming going on: some off-beat tune that Vlad didn't recognize, nor did he care to.

The principal glanced over once or twice, both times a bit startled to see the janitor on hands and knees, reaching beneath furniture to reach this miplaced object or that.  It wasn't until Vlad caught himself appreciating the stretch of those coveralls across the other man's ass that it occured to the principal that this man was a bit young to be a janitor.

Janitors tended to be down-on-your-luck, old, and without-other-options kind of people, but this man looked to be in his early twenties.  Heaven forbid he actually be a teenager.  Vlad jerked his eyes back to his computer screen and typed a bit of jibberish to fill what he hoped wasn't an obvious silence.  He needed to control himself.

The Distraction [capital "D"] didnt' help Vlad's situation by standing into a long, teasing stretch, before humming his way back into the hall and returning with a squeaky-wheeled vacuum cleaner.

"You mind?" said the Distraction, and Vlad waved a hand like he didn't care.

Moments later the vacuum whirred to life, and Vlad was only a bit appalled when he was promptly dragged out of the way by the intrusive janitor so the man could get the space under his desk.

"You're quite thorough," Vlad said, irritation apparent.  But his annoyance disappeared when the Distraction flashed a grin in his direction, vivid blue eyes practically gleaming with mirth.

"So why the late night?" the janitor asked, pulling the vacuum out of the way and nudging Vlad back into place with a casual swing of his hip.  Vlad's fingers fell back into place on the keyboard, but he didn't type another word.

"Parents complaining about the teachers doing this or that - the usual," Vlad said, giving up all pretense of working and slumping against his high-back chair.  "I don't even understand _how_ people raise their children these days.  Hellions, all of them."

"You don't like kids?" the janitor asked.

"I don't dislike them," Vlad replied evasively.

"A school principal who doesn't like kids.  Sounds like something you'd see in a cartoon."

Vlad eyed the janitor as he rolled up the vacuum cord.  "How old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"You're still practically a child yourself.  Why are you a janitor?"

Those gleaming blue eyes met Vlad's darker ones.  "Why not?  Money's money, right?  And cleaning is easy."

"I know an evasive answer when I hear one," Vlad declared.

"And I know when I'm being watched," the janitor retorted, raising his brows.  "But I'm nice enough not to point it out - not that I mind."  He smirked.

Vlad actually blushed.

"Well, I'm all done here."  The janitor let go of the vacuum long enough to reach a hand over Vlad's desk.  Vlad stood and shook it slowly.

"I apologize if I've offended you," Vlad began, but the janitor shushed him.

"Not offended at all - flattered, actually.  It's been a while since anyone's really cared to notice."

"Vlad Masters," Vlad said after a short pause.

"I know.  You're the principal.  My name's Danny, Vlad."  He let go of Vlad's hand and went back to get the vacuum.  Danny was half way out of the door when Vlad realized that he really was staring quite intently, and he still had his hand raised over his desk where they had shaken hands.  He dropped it quickly, but he didn't look away.

"Maybe I'll see you later, yeah?" Danny said, slowly shutting the door as he left.

Vlad sat slowly back in his chair, heart thudding in his chest.  He tried to breath evenly; he failed.

This couldn't be happening.

It was.

He dropped his elbows on his desk and buried his red face in his hands, and tried to think up a way to avoid a situation that was clearly already out of his control.


	2. Chapter 2

The principal was something else. Danny didn't really understand what his deal was. The man was a total knock-out: drop-dead gorgeous, but waaay too old to be stepping into Danny's territory. That didn't stop the man from trying, however. It was cute, but Vlad was way out of Danny's league and the janitor knew that with certainty.

He also knew about Vlad's fiance. Yeah, the media generally sucked, but his proposal to Veronica Jameson on live television six months ago was hard to miss. Not to mention, Vlad had been sporting her as arm candy for the better part of a year. Everybody knew that. Vlad Masters was a very rich, very popular man. Why he decided to top that off by being a High School Principal, the world had yet to guess.

Two weeks after that initial, impromptu ass-appreciation session, Vlad was at it again, though he was being far less conspicuous this time. Danny was in the man's office again, and yeah, it was definitely dark out. Miraculously, Vlad managed to open the door without Danny noticing, and had probably been staring at the younger man for better part of five minutes. Danny was dusting the bookshelves, and in all his thoroughness, was hands-and-knees at it again, trying to neaten up the bottom ones.

"Are you trying to show off?" came Vlad's voice out of the blue.

Danny sat up and turned around to see. The angle was awkward.

"It's Friday," the janitor said pointedly. "Shouldn't you be out at a gala or something?"

"Funny," said the older man, dipping in hands into the pockets of his very well tailored suit. "I came back for something I left in my desk. I forgot that you'd be cleaning."

_Liar_ , Danny wanted to say, but kept his mouth shut. He sort of waved his hand vaguely towards Vlad's desk, saying something like, "it's your office."

Vlad walked over and rummaged around the desk for a few moments and Danny did his best to ignore him.

"Ah-hah!" Vlad said triumphantly, holding up a sticky note with a phone number scribbled across it.

"Hey," Danny asked suddenly, sweeping dust from several reference books with a rag. "Why'd you decide to be a principal? Aren't you like a billionaire or something?"

"It's a good cover," Vlad said, sounding not at all offended. "I'm actually a secret agent."

Danny actually dropped the book he was holding. "Please tell me that wasn't supposed to be a pick-up line."

"Did it work?" Vlad wondered, walking over to where Danny was sitting on the floor.

"You are engaged," Danny accused, "and straight as far as the papers are concerned."

“Am I?” Vlad teased, and to Danny’s utter annoyance, left the room without so much as a backwards glance.

“Jerk,” Danny muttered under his breath, and tried no to stare at the older man’s ass on the way out.


	3. Chapter 3

Two weeks had passed since Vlad's awkward encounter with the young janitor, and for the first time since, he was pulling a late night. A suicide attempt on campus the day prior had caused an awful stir among the local community, and the school needed quite a bit of damage control, or else the media would eat them alive. However, after 12 hours of not leaving the office and a constantly growling stomach, Vlad figured that a quick trip to the vending machines by the cafeteria was in order. He grabbed his coat and pulled it on, stepped out of the office, and locked the door behind him. The campus was pitch dark at this hour, partly for environmental and funding purposes, but mostly because Vlad couldn't stand the stadium lighting that the school had outside of the halls.

Besides, _he_ didn't need the extra light to see in the dark. He made his way to the vending machines slowly, allowing the fresh air outside to soothe his nerves. Once he rounded the last corner and saw the machines tucked up under an overhang, he pulled a few dollars out of his wallet and settled for a bottle of apple juice and a granola bar. As he made his way back to his office, he noticed that the lights were on in one of the classrooms. _Room 203, Home Economics, Ms. Johnson -_ Vlad's mind supplied. He also remembered that the teacher was meticulous about her classroom _and_ an environmental nut. The woman wouldn't leave those lights on if you paid her to.

It wasn't until he was just outside the 200 series hallway that he remembered the janitor. The idea of seeing _Danny_ again had Vlad so flustered that he didn't even dare go in. Instead, he spun around in place, planning to go back to his office without delay, and came face-to-face with the man in question.

"Well, hello," Danny greeted, giving Vlad a knowing look. "Going somewhere, Mr. Principal?"

"I..I was going back to my office." _I sound like an idiot,_ Vlad thought unhappily.

"Took a detour, huh? Change your mind?"

"When I recalled the likely reason for those lights to be on, I decided it was probably better to leave you to it."

The other man had a mop in one hand and a bucket in the other, Vlad noticed, but he didn't appear to be in much of a hurry.

"Not very nice, are you?"

Vlad smirked, finally feeling back in his element. " _No_."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Well, if you wouldn't mind getting the doors for me, I'd appreciate it."

Ever the gentleman, Vlad complied.

"There's the classroom door, too," Danny said cheekily as Vlad started to walk away.

"In retrospect, wouldn't it have been smarter to leave it open, then?"

"But then I wouldn't have an excuse to annoy you, _Vlad_."

Vlad scoffed. "As if you planned this.”

Danny turned just enough to shoot him a grin. “How do you know I didn’t?”

Grumbling half-heartedly, Vlad followed him down the hall to the classroom. He opened that door as well, despite the janitor’s smug expression.

“I should dock your pay for this,” the principal said.

“Go ahead. It’s not enough to get by on anyway,” Danny said, setting the mop bucket on the floor and dipping the mop head into the soapy water inside. He picked a back corner and started swabbing.

“What do you mean?” Vlad asked, propping a hip against a table and tearing open his granola bar. He took a dainty bite.

“I have another job,” Danny said. “Two if you want to get technical about it, but only one that really pays.”

“Oh? What’s the third one, then? An internship?”

Danny snorted. “If only.”

“What’s the day job?”

Danny pushed a trashcan to the side with his foot so he could swab a tight corner, saying, “I’m a mechanic. Heard of Rig’s?”

“That truck stop just off of the interstate?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. I do basic service for big rigs.”

Vlad was frowning. “So you what? Pump their gas? Check their oil?”

“Most tractor-trailers run on diesel. Tire pressure’s the real kicker. Do you know how many tires are on a thirteen-axle with a stinger? Yeesh!”

Vlad laughed. “Well, at least you don’t sound too upset about it.”

“I aim for optimism on the worst of days.” Danny was nearly done with the floor now. Vlad maneuvered out of the way as the janitor started on the second half of the room, and very quickly got distracted by the muscles lining the younger man’s arms.

“Did you ever want to do anything else, Daniel?” Vlad asked seriously.

Danny paused in mopping long enough to the meet the principal’s eyes. “No. My childhood dream was to clean scuffed floors and argue about tire pressure with truckers.”

Vlad made a face, and Danny burst out laughing.

“I’m being serious,” the older man said sharply, clearly not amused.

Danny managed to contain his amusement long enough to say, “I know. Oh, and one more thing? Don’t call me Daniel. My name is _Danny_. Just Danny.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.”

Vlad smirked. “Well, now that I know that, I am going to make a point in always calling you Daniel, to save you the indignity of living out your days with a nickname for a first name.”

The janitor gave him a disgruntled look. “But it’s not my _name_.”

“Accept it, and I’ll give you a bonus.”

“Are you bribing me?” Danny asked, half-laughing, but he really had perked up at the word “bonus”. Vlad had a feeling that he really needed it.

“Of course not. You’re getting a bonus anyway. I’ve already looked into it.” _And a raise,_ he didn’t add.

“Oh, God. Is this you trying to seduce me?” Danny teased. “I know I may seem easy, but I’ll have you know that I cannot be bought with mere money.”

“Oh?” Vlad wondered. “What would it take?”

“Common courtesy,” Danny said quickly. “You’re already out of the red. You opened two doors for me, after all, that’s two points.”

“Did you say I was in the red? Why was I in the red?”

“That first day, you sat in your chair while I vacuumed.”

“You said it was fine!”

“And you have a tendency to miss the most basic of social cues, Mr. Masters. A nicer person would have moved for the ten seconds it takes me to vacuum that office.”

“Dan _iel_.”

“Excuse me. I need to mop there.”

Danny actually shoved Vlad out of the classroom with a hip. “Don’t you have work to do?” He was grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Why do I like you?” Vlad wondered aloud.

Danny actually blushed. “No idea.”

“I left my apple juice on the table.”

Danny glanced over at it. “Mm, that part of the floor is wet now. It’s a no-go.”

The principal sighed. “Guess that’s it then.” He turned and began his retreat. He was nearly to the exit of the hallway, when he heard it.

“I guess I like you, too.”


	4. Chapter 4

The shift from ghost form to human was so utterly satisfying. Vlad loved the raw heat that shot through his blood before the inevitable chill of death set in, his body going icy cold around his boiling core.

He was running late for work one morning, and rather than wait impatiently for his personal chauffer, he’d decided to suck it up and fly. Not that he didn’t enjoy flying to work, but it was maddening to sit through one of those boring conferences while on an adrenaline high.

He had just reached the school campus, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye: a familiar streak of black and white. Vlad grinned and changed direction, tearing after the streak in the sky.

“Good morning, Phantom,” he said cordially, catching up to the younger ghost and admiring his spectral tail.

“Plasmius,” Phantom noted, slowing down. “What are you doing here?”

Vlad, ever the tyrant, had usurped a fair portion of the Ghost Zone when he’d gotten his powers twenty years ago. When he moved to Amity, he was shocked to learn that another formidable ghost had already claimed the town as his own territory, even if unwittingly. Curious, Vlad had left the matter alone. He rarely dealt with Phantom, but he knew the ghost had a bit of a hero-complex and packed quite a punch when provoked. Not to say that Vlad didn’t think he could handle the younger ghost, he just wasn’t inclined to start fights where there was no need to. After all, Phantom was agreeable enough.

“Just enjoying the crisp morning air,” Vlad finally replied. “You?”

“Patrol,” he said casually. “Spectra’s been around again.”

Vlad frowned. On the scale of unpleasant ghosts, Spectra definitely ranked somewhere near the top. Vlad refused to even deal with her. For her to have been anywhere around the high school was alarming.

“At the school?”

“You hear about that suicide attempt?”

Vlad’s blood boiled. “That was _Spectra_?”

Phantom nodded.

“What are you going to do once you catch up to her?” Vlad had to know.

“I’m going to take her to Walker. There’s a bounty on her head.”

“Is that wise? Rumor has it, there’s a bounty on your head, as well.”

Phantom winced. “I was hoping that he’d ease up a little if I brought her in.”                                              

“That’s foolish, little badger.”

Phantom bristled at the nickname. “I’d rather toss her at Walker and run than have her messing with kids here.”

“I’ve a better idea,” Vlad stated. “Give her to me, and I’ll take her to the warden. I have a better relationship with him anyway.”

Phantom laughed. “Relationship? He’s terrified of you!”

“Are you going to accept my offer or not?”

“Fine. Yeah. Where?”

“Lakeman’s Bridge? At ten tonight?”

“Sure. Um, thanks.”

“It’s nothing. I’m not so fond of Spectra myself.”

* * *

Phantom brought Spectra to Vlad in an ecto-net.

“This was the best you could do? A net?”

“Oh, shut up, Plasmius,” Phantom huffed, dropping the unconscious ghost on the ground at Vlad’s feet. The abandoned bridge loomed over them, barely darker than the night itself. The ghosts themselves glowed softly, emitting their own light, not that they needed it. All ghosts had predator’s eyes, glowing and all-seeing even in the dark.

Vlad nudged Spectra with the toe of a boot. She didn’t so much as twitch. Phantom had really done a number on her.

“Well done, little badger. She’s out cold.” Vlad remarked, a note of pride to his tone. “If it weren’t for your taxing hero complex, I’d ask you to work for _me._ ”

“Ew. God, you’re awful at flirting.” Phantom said, making a disgusted face.

Vlad rolled his eyes. “I have it on good authority that I’m actually quite good at flirting; thank you, very much. And for the record, _I wasn’t_.”

“Whatever you say, fruitloop.”

Vlad glared and grabbed the end of the ecto-net, shooting a pulse of energy through it for good measure.

“Thanks, again, Plasmius.”

The older ghost tugged the net into the air. Spectra was actually fairly heavy.

“Don’t mention it.”


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning was fairly uneventful for Vlad. He spent it lecturing a new teacher on the finer aspects of the school’s policies. What he didn’t expect was for the janitor to burst in at nine-sharp, interrupting Vlad midsentence and sending the new teacher into a state of vast disapproval. God, she was irksome.

“Daniel, isn’t it a bit early for your shift?”

“I left my keys somewhere,” he said, and without warning, started shifting things around Vlad’s office in hot pursuit. The principal didn’t even want to consider how utterly _wrong_ this entire situation probably seemed to the new teacher. On the other hand, he was greatly enjoying the site of Danny in loose jeans and a cheap novelty t-shirt.

“In a hurry?” Vlad asked casually, extremely amused by the put-upon look on Ms. Hasbro’s face.

“Gotta be at Rig’s in like thirty minutes.”

“Daniel, yesterday was Wednesday. You don’t clean my office on Wednesdays.”

Danny paused in his rabid search and turned those big baby-blues on Vlad, suspicion gleaming there. “How do you know?”

“You always rearrange my desk when you clean. You think I don’t notice?”

“Fair point, I’ll give you that, but dammit- my _keys_! Where are they?”

“Have you tried lost-and-found?”

“Ah!” Danny exclaimed and rushed out of the room.

Vlad figured that it was time to relieve Ms. Hasbro of her distress. “Forgive, Mr. Fenton. He’s the night janitor. He also has two other jobs. Quite respectable, in my opinion.”

She looked insulted. “And a bit rude, don’t you think? Just barging in.”

“Nonsense,” Vlad said shortly. “Daniel’s usually quite polite. He’s just panicking. Poor thing.”

“Indeed,” she said, sounding not at all convinced.

* * *

A week in following, Vlad was staying late. Danny walked into his office and slapped a dirty rag down on the principal’s desk.

“You ass,” he accused.

Vlad raised a brow. “How so?”

Danny gawked at him for a moment. “Thirty-seven refrigerator trucks showed up at Rig’s yesterday for servicing. The name on the side? _Dalv Incorporated_. One guy tried to give me a hundred dollar tip. I was two hours late going home. Not to mention, I got paid yesterday. Did you know I got a ten percent raise? Ten percent, Vlad!”

“I don’t see the problem here.” Vlad said, reclining in his chair and crossing his arms.

Danny actually growled. “I told you that I can’t be bought.”

The older man glared. “The raise was long overdue. The bonus was an apology for not giving your due sooner. Many of our staff were given the same treatment this past week.”

“And the trucks?”

“I had a shipment come in for the local grocer. They usually travel in groups. There are very particular laws as to which roads they can traverse. It just so happens that yours is the one they picked.”

“And the huge tips?”

Vlad pursed his lips. “Did it even occur to you that they might have thought you are just very good at what you do? Or maybe you impressed them with your superb manners and inconspicuous sarcasm.”

“So that was all you, eh?”

The principal inspected his fingernails. “I might have mentioned something.”

Laughter bubbled up from Danny’s throat. “You are _ridiculous_ , Vlad. And sneaky! Ridiculously sneaky.”

“Not at all. If I were sneaky, you wouldn’t have noticed anything amiss.”

“I reiterate. You’re an _ass_.”

“And you,” Vlad stated, setting his elbows on his desk and resting his chin on one hand. He glanced up. “You are _adorable._ And rude. And…frazzled. A ticking time bomb.”

“An adorable time bomb,” the janitor reminded and leaned down just enough to brush his lips against the older man’s. It was barely a second before he pulled away.

“I forgot to mention _tease_ ,” Vlad said quietly, after licking his lips. The gesture alone made Danny’s face turn bright red. “Are you going to clean my office today?”

“No, I think I like it dirty,” Danny said with a smirk. He snatched the old cleaning cloth off of the principal’s desk and left the room, shutting the door gently behind him.

Vlad sighed and shut down his computer. After that little debacle, there was no way he was getting anything else done that night.


	6. Chapter 6

“Hey, Plasmius!”

Vlad, flying over the town one early morning, slowed his speed to something a bit more sociable and waited for Phantom to catch up. The younger ghost was at his side in seconds. His green eyes were flickering with nervous energy.

“Hey, can I talk to you?”

“You are talking to me,” Vlad replied sarcastically.

“Right. Um, well, what do you know about core-mating?”

Vlad slowed down so much that he actually stopped. Together the two ghosts floated in mid-air, just above the downtown square.

“Why do you ask?”

“I…my mentor-“

“-is Clockwork, right?” Vlad cut in. He had always been envious of Phantom’s easy relationship with the Master of Time.

“Yeah, um. He said that my core is acting up, but when I asked why, he just said something about core-mates?”

Vlad was on his way to an important meeting, but Phantom’s curiosity struck a chord within him. He decided that the meeting could wait. Vlad floated over to the nearest skyscraper and sat atop it. Phantom sat next to him.

“Have you made the decision to mate with another ghost, little badger?”

“No. I mean, uh, I’m not even sure that I could if I wanted to?”

Vlad scoffed. “Why do you pose every sentence as if it is a question?”

“You know I’m not a full-on ghost, right?” Danny added, ignoring the jibe.

Vlad, however, was completely thrown by that announcement. “You’re not?”

“I figured Skulker would have mentioned it,” he muttered. “I’m a halfa. Or at least, that’s what the other ghosts call me.”

Breathing was suddenly quite difficult. “ _You_ are a _halfa_?”

Could this really be possible?Vlad was stunned. “How?”

“I got sucked into a ghost portal when I was fourteen. Natural portals are brimming with raw ecto-energy, and they can appear anywhere. This one had been dormant for centuries, apparently. In short, I totally got zapped by the green stuff. I came out a little more and a little less dead than expected.”

Vlad was borderline hyperventilating.

“So, seriously, can halfas even core-mate or whatever?”

“The raw principle of core-mating is that one ghost’s core will match in equal strength and resonate with another,” the older ghost said, after getting control of his own emotions. “In theory, you should be able to mate with a ghost whose core is opposite the element of yours. In my experience, most ghosts have neutral cores, however, there are a few exceptions. Ember McClain has a hot core. The Far Frozen are cold-cored. You are the only other ghost I know of with a cold core.”

“Opposites attract?” he guessed.

“That’s really only the half of it. The other ghost’s core still has to resonate with yours in close range. In other words, their power has to neither over or underwhelm your own.”

“So how does the mating thing work?”

“The way mating typically works in nature. Sex.”

The younger ghost shifted uncomfortably. “Plasmius, what kind of core do you have?”

Vlad gave him a long look, as lightning cracked distantly across the sky.

“Hot.”

Phantom looked away. “Do you have to mate at some point?”

“Once you meet your match, the outcome is inevitable, or so I’ve heard.”

“What if you love a human first? And _then_ you meet your mate?”

“Then doomed we are both,” Vlad said sadly.

Phantom looked surprised –so surprised, in fact, that he shot the older ghost a grin. “Really? _You_ are in love with a _human_ _?_ ”

“Is that so surprising?”

The kid laughed. “Yeesh, fruitloop. I never pegged you for a romantic.”

A distant memory shook Vlad’s foundation and for a moment, he had to catch his breath. “You’d be surprised, little badger.”

“Why do you always call me that?”

“Still haven’t guessed? There’s this miraculous thing called _the internet_ , you know. It’s very informative.”

“Oh, haha. Like I can afford it.”

Vlad frowned, considering the affectations of the young ghost’s words. “You actually live in the human world, don’t you?”

“I did say I was half ghost. Of course, I do. Do you? I never really see you in the Ghost Zone.”

“I get around.”

Phantom was smiling. “Hey, so you’re into a human, too, right?”

Vlad was taken off guard. “Yes, of course.”

“So who’s yours?”

“Now, why should I tell you that?”

“I dunno. I’m just curious. Big bad Vladimir, practically King of the GZ, dating a human? _Spill_.”

“He’s…younger than me.”

“Somehow, I knew he’d be a _he_.”

Vlad shrugged. “What about yours?”

“Mine’s an ass, but I love him anyway.”

“How on Earth did I end up gossiping like a teenaged girl with you? Talking about boys.” Vlad shuttered in gest and Phantom laughed, leaning up against the older man’s arm as he did so.

Vlad felt a surge of heat surge through him, and very keenly, he worried for a moment at where this all might be going. Core-mates. Both halfas (even though Danny was oblivious to Vlad’s true nature.)And they had opposing cores. It really was very alarming when he thought about it.

Vlad inconspicuously leaned away.

“Well, I should get going,” Phantom said, floating up from the building. “It’s been fun, and uh, thanks for the info.”

“Anytime, little badger.”

He watched Phantom leave, and then the guilt fell neatly into place.


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey, boss-man!” Danny said, bursting into Vlad’s office like something out of a corny 80s film.

Vlad smiled a bit, but the expression wouldn’t stick. Fortunately, Danny seemed not to notice. He danced around the office, cleaning this and that. The principal couldn’t even bring himself to watch. What chance did a half-ghost have with a human, anyway? Vlad knew that he was powerful, but he also had an abundance of enemies, and they were not weak by any means. There was also the whole halfa thing. How might Daniel react if he got to see Vlad in his other form? He turned _blue_ for God’s sake! And there was no way that his sweet janitor would ever be able to overlook a pair of vampire fangs.

_I’m a monster,_ Vlad thought for the first time in at least a decade. _I should be with other monsters._

He thought of Phantom and dug a tooth into his bottom lip, because _that_ was another problem. _Core-mates_. Curse Clockwork and his need to point out the obvious! Surely, it wouldn’t take long for Phantom to learn the truth. Vlad had known since the very first time that he’d met the younger ghost, and he had climbed mountains to avoid that particular issue. And now there was Daniel…it really didn’t bear thinking about.

“Hey.”

A pair of hands appeared on Vlad’s desk, and he glanced up to meet the janitor’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

_Maybe, I shouldn’t do this._

“Nothing you should worry about, love.”

The endearment was not at all conducive to the goal at hand.

Danny crossed his arms and tried to look stern, but his eyes were worried.

“Tell me.”

Vlad tried to think of a way to explain things without sounding like a lunatic.

“Do you understand the concept of arranged marriage?”

“Do I look like I crawled out of the stone-ages?” the janitor asked, fiddling with the cord of his headphones. Then, he added, “Wait. Are you talking about your fiancé? That one in the news?”

Oh, _Veronica_. Vlad had forgotten about her. That story was entirely up to the media as a deterrent, but it would work for now. In fact, it was perfect.

“I like you. I’d like to be with you. However, there is that whole… _thing_.”

Danny frowned. “Do you love her?”

“No.”

_But I may have a thing for Phantom._

“Then what’s the problem? You can’t back out of it?”

_There is no denying one’s mate. Eventually, the bond will come to fruition._

He had to end this. Now.

Vlad sighed and slumped in his chair. “Daniel, there’s quite possibly someone else.”

The janitor froze, blue eyes wide and angry.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snarled. “Are you that much of a playboy?”

“I have to stop this before it gets out of control.”

“Man or woman?”

Vlad frowned. “What?”

“Man or woman? Who am I losing out to?”

The principal grimaced. “Man.”

“And you love him?”

“Yes.”

It was only half a lie.

“Right.” Danny said breathily, drawing himself into a rigid stance. “ _Right._ From now on, you should know that if you’re here, I’m not cleaning your stupid office.”

“Daniel.”

He was already walking out.

“Daniel, we weren’t even seeing each other! Not really.” Vlad was standing now.

Danny had his hand wrapped around the door handle, but he wasn’t turning it. Not yet.

“Does it hurt for you?”

Vlad sighed.

“Yes.”

Danny slammed the door on the way out.

* * *

Phantom had Vlad cornered, quite literally. They were tucked away in a dark alley, and Vlad was concerned because the younger ghost looked absolutely miserable.

“You’re my core-mate, Plasmius.”

How bitter those words sounded.

“I know,” Vlad replied, equally as reluctant. “Did Clockwork tell you?”

“Yeah.”

The wind whistled through the alley.

“I…I don’t hate you,” Phantom admitted. “It’s just…I guess I don’t get to be with whomever I want.”

“I know,” Vlad said again. “Me, too.”

“You’re a halfa, aren’t you?”

Vlad nodded.

Phantom didn’t get angry; he just looked defeated. “Why didn’t you say?”

“It is a very closely guarded secret.”

Danny continued, “I shouldn’t like you. I do.”

Vlad wanted to scream.

“I feel the same.”

“How should we do this?”

Vlad closed his eyes, and in that moment of shared misery, said:

“I guess only time will tell.”

* * *

Two months passed. Vlad spent a great deal of time with Phantom, and they grew closer with each passing day. There was a vicious tension between them, a tension that was easily channeled into sarcasm and biting wit. Neither wanted to address the tension for what it was, and somehow, that worked for them.

Those two months passed like clockwork. Vlad didn’t see Danny at all, but he was okay with that. He was surviving. They had never really been anything anyway, just a bit of flirting when the sun went down. Just a distraction, as he’d thought on the first day.

Distraction, capital “D”.

Or at least, that’s what Vlad tried to tell himself.


	8. Chapter 8

Danny was _not_ okay – not with seeing Vlad out of the corners of his eyes and having to wonder why he wasn’t good enough, not with seeing Plasmius and having to deal with the heedless _wanting_. Danny was miserable, but he was good at hiding it.

In fact, he was getting a little _too_ good, so good that he was even starting to fool himself.

“Come on, little badger. It’s easy.”

“It is not easy, fruitloop! I don’t know if you’re paying attention, but I have three heads and four arms at the moment.” Danny, in his ghost form, struggled to say the words through only one mouth. Duplication was no easy feat. It was also really hard to remain focused when your teacher kept giggling every time you screwed up. His excuses were also pretty weak.

“You have a head on your ass, little badger. How am I _not_ supposed to laugh at that?”

“You’re supposed to make a clone, not _split yourself in half_.”

“You suck at teaching!” Danny would shout after each failed attempt. Fortunately, they were training out in the woods where no one else could bear witness to Phantom’s mistakes.

The real problem came later.

“You’re such a jerk, Plasmius.”

“You have to admit, those last few attempts were pretty hilarious.”

“So were you: falling on your ass from laughing so hard.”

This set Plasmius off on another laughing spree. Danny couldn’t help but join him. The laughter ended in a way neither of them expected. They had been sitting side-by-side on the grass, and Plasmius’ uncontrollable mirth sent him tumbling into Danny. Surprised, and feeling unbearably light, Danny leaned up and kissed the older ghost. It felt natural, perfect.

It felt right.

Moments later, they pulled apart – Danny with eyes lightly hooded and Vlad with eyes closed. The older ghost pressed his face against the younger halfa’s shoulder.

“ _Daniel_ ,” he whispered into the stretch of his jumpsuit.

Danny froze, his mind staggering to a halt, because _it couldn’t be!_ Could it? Danny had never, not once, told Plasmius any other name than Phantom. That Plasmius’ first name was _Vladimir_ , he took on pure coincidence and the sure-fire cruelty of fate.

Vlad tensed mere seconds after realizing what name had tripped its way out of his mouth. Oblivious, he snatched back from Danny and immediately stumbled through a very bad apology. In that moment, Danny thought himself a fool, because how could he have missed it? It was so obvious!

Both angry and relieved, he laughed.

Of all things, he _laughed_.

In some distant part of his brain, Danny knew that he must have sounded crazy.

“Phantom?”

“Jesus, Vlad! We really are a couple of idiots. No wonder Clockwork told me about the mate thing.”

“What are you talking about?”

And there was that other thing, Phantom never called him _Vlad_.

Phantom’s cheeky grin was quickly drowned out by a flash of light, and Vlad stared in abject shock as the half-ghost hero became his poor, feisty janitor.

“ _Daniel?_ ”

Danny didn’t hesitate to crawl into Vlad’s lap.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know it was you, Vlad.”

Plasmius was only momentarily distracted by the man straddling him in the grass. With a desperate sound, he flipped them over, simultaneously slipping into human form.

“Indeed. How stupid we are.”

Danny smiled and pressed his forehead against the older man’s.


	9. Chapter 9

“Oh my God, fruitloop! What are we doing?” Danny demanded as Vlad phased them through his office door.

“My house is too far away, and I highly doubt that yours is adequate.” Vlad said around their practically combative kissing.

“Gee, thanks.” Danny said, rolling his eyes, then he yelped as the older man _picked him up_ and deposited him ass-first onto the principal’s desk. With a wicked smirk, Vlad dipped a hand between Danny’s thighs and pushed his legs apart. The younger man was blushing, but he didn’t complain when Vlad ran a gloved hand over the shape of the erection made obvious by the tight stretch of Danny’s jumpsuit. The younger halfa hissed appreciatively.

“Human forms,” Vlad demanded and shifted from ghostly to living in a flash. Danny followed suit, and then nearly jumped off the desk in eagerness to wrap himself around the principal.

“You’re like an ocotpus,” Vlad said, pressing a laugh into Danny’s neck as his fingers made short work of the man’s jeans. Danny himself was starting on the top button of Vlad’s coat.

“Remind me to try that later,” Danny said, phasing Vlad’s coat the rest of the way off. By accident, the shirt went, too, and he was left with the very appealing sight of Vlad’s muscular chest. He licked his lips. “I think I can manage four arms and two dicks.”

Vlad burst out laughing, even as Danny leaned forward enough to swipe his tongue across one of the man’s nipples. Laughter became a groan of appreciation, and once Vlad slipped a hand into Danny’s underwear, they were both making a hell of a lot of stupid noises.

“ _Mouth,_ ” Danny insisted.

And Vlad dropped to his knees with a very excited, “Don’t mind if I do.”

Danny’s underwear was very quickly eliminated from the picture, and Vlad’s hot mouth was wrapped around the full, hard length of his cock. He sucked and bobbed his head, clearly an expert on the matter, and Danny didn’t hesitate to thrust his hips forward with each push or pull of that hot mouth.

“ _Coming_ ,” Danny eventually warned, and Vlad very quickly removed himself from around Danny’s dick, wrapping a hand tightly around the base instead. The younger man groaned unhappily and bowed backwards over the flat of the desk.

“ _Ass_!” he howled, and again, Vlad said: “Don’t mind if I do.”

He flipped Danny over.

“No fair, Vlad! I didn’t even get to see your – oh, _hello.”_

“Had to shut you up somehow,” Vlad’s double said, pants mysteriously gone as he pushed his erection up against Danny’s eager mouth. The janitor swallowed it eagerly.

Meanwhile, the original Vlad spread the cheeks of Danny’s ass and put his mouth in the center. Danny groaned around the base of Vlad’s cock when a tongue wiggled its way into his entrance. He put up with _that_ for all of a minute, before popping his mouth free of the cock he was sucking, and demanding:

“Fingers, now!”

The tongue quickly departed, and was replaced with long, agile fingers, covered in something wet and sticky that Danny knew was probably ectoplasm. He’d worry about the effects of that particular substance later. At the moment, he was very focused on sucking as much dick into his mouth as possible while also riding the three fingers wedged into his ass, fingers that didn’t stick around long.

When Danny felt the tip of Vlad’s cock pushing into him, he let its twin fall from his mouth. Vlad’s double moved so that their faces where level, and so that they could look into each other’s eyes. Danny groaned when Vlad gently framed his face with his hands and pressed their mouths together, swallowing every pained/aroused sound that the younger man made until the original Vlad was ball’s deep, buried into him.

“Good?” asked the double.

“Better if you’d move,” Danny snarled.

So Vlad did. He lifted his hips and dropped them just as quickly, pounding into the younger man as quickly as he could.

“Fuck Almighty,” Danny half-shouted, gripping the edge of the desk for dear life. The other Vlad slid backwards and spread his legs for Danny to see, then spent the rest of the time jerking off and watching the show.

Danny came far faster than he wanted to, and at the sight of Vlad’s double slipping a finger into his own ass. Seconds after he came all over Vlad’s desk, he felt the other man’s dick pulse and spill inside of him. Then, quite abruptly, the double vanished, and Vlad Masters collapsed on top of Danny’s back. After about two minutes of harsh breathing, Danny actually dared to ask:

“What’s your recovery time?”

Vlad, still panting, laughed. “Seriously? Already, Daniel?”

Danny wiggled and Vlad shifted so that the younger man could roll over underneath him. When they were facing each other, he offered the most mischievous grin that he was capable of.

“I want to _ride_ you in your desk chair.”

Smooshed between them, Vlad’s cock swelled to life, and he grinned sharply, shifting into ghost form.

“Round two,” he teased.

Danny added, “ _Go_.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Who is he?”

“Do you think he goes here?”

“I think he’s a college student. Has to be.”

Vlad glowered at the gaggle of teenaged girls. Their subject of admiration was, of course, standing not fifteen feet away in a black, pinstripe, Armani suit: one that Vlad had to practically beg him to wear. It was damn worth it, too. The three-piece fit Daniel’s lithe yet muscular like a glove, and the electric blue tie at his neck made the blue of his eyes pop magnificently. Currently, Danny was the picture of wealth and ease. His hands were tucked into his pockets, yet he somehow retained perfect posture. He was casually making conversation with yet another couple of young women.

Meanwhile, the group that Vlad was skulking behind was gearing up for confrontation.

“You go, Alissa.”

“No way! You!”

“Someone has to go talk to him.”

“I’ll do it!”

“Missy, you _have_ a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t look like _that_.”

_Time to stop beating around the bush_. Vlad easily stepped around them, and they all naturally tensed at the sight of the school principal. Head held high, he approached Danny and the (drooling) girls.

“So what are you studying in college?”

“Astrophysics,” Danny replied.

“Oh, that is so awesome! I love astronomy.”

The girls rambled on, and Vlad was delighted to see impatience gleaming in Danny’s eyes. Vlad walked up behind the girls, as close as he dared, and Danny glanced up over their heads to meet his eyes. Vlad felt enormously smug when the younger man’s eyes filled with warmth, and Danny smiled so genuinely that it was almost funny. The girls standing in front of him seemed to be in a state of shock. Both had gone completely quiet. One seemed to be hyperventilating, presumably because she thought that Danny’s expression was directed at her.

Vlad cleared his throat, and the two busty teens finally noticed him. They turned around in unison, eyes widening comically as he loomed over them. The temperature in the room actually dropped a few degrees, but Vlad would deny that it was his fault later.

“Hello, Daniel.”

“ _Hey_ ,” Danny said back, and there was so much written into that single syllable, into how he said it, that should have made the situation incredibly obvious.

“Please tell me that you’re getting off early,” Danny added, and it was as if there weren’t seven beautiful young women standing in the room around them. Vlad loved it.

“I did say that I was.”

“You better,” Danny said playfully, nearly growling.

Vlad couldn’t help but take the bait. “Or what, little badger?”

Danny’s resulting expression would best be described as a leer. “Or I’ll have to come drag you out.”

The two girls standing between them gasped at once, and Vlad chuckled. They had figured it out by now, hopefully. The other group of girls, however, seemed to be ambling closer. The ever approachable Missy made her way to the forefront of the conversation.

“Danny, isn’t it?” she said jauntily, and Vlad had to smother the urge to commit homicide in broad daylight. Missy, however imbecilic, was _hot_. Even Vlad could see that. She smooshed her cleavage together by tugging up her shoulders and stuck out her bottom lip in a perfect pout. Vlad wanted to throttle her, but Danny looked on the verge of laughing.

“Just a sec, Missy,” he said politely, then very neatly stepped around her and her stupid gaggle of friends. Danny walked right up to Vlad and pressed a quick kiss to the side of his mouth. He then spun back around and grinned like the cat that got the canary.

“You were saying?”

There was a unified (and probably justified) groan from every female in the general vicinity.

“They’re either taken,” one began.

“Or gay,” Danny finished for her. “Though technically, I’m bi. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m taken.”

“By the _school_ _principal_ of all people,” Missy hissed. “Honey, he’s _old_.”

This seemed to set Danny off, and his patient amusement quickly receded into anger. “ _He_ just so happens to be Wisconsin’s number one eligible bachelor. He has three masters’ degrees and a more impressive background in martial arts than Jet Li. Of all the things he could be doing right now, he’s the _principal_ of a _high school_. He has no criminal record, and he’s filthy rich. He’s also the hottest piece of ass in the building at the moment so I’d suggest that you back the fuck off.”

Missy made an affronted sound, and Vlad knew that Danny’s eyes were on the verge of flashing green.He stepped between them, but he had no intention of deterring Danny’s wrath. With a wicked look, Vlad stepped forward and whispered in the younger man’s ear.

“My office. My desk. _Now_.”

Danny shuddered visibly. Missy made a disgusted face, having overheard. Ever the prankster, Danny slipped a hand around Vlad’s waist and very publicly swiped his tongue across Vlad’s earlobe, then stepped away. He headed towards the principal’s office without so much as a backwards glance.

And as usual, Vlad followed.

He would always follow.

.End.


End file.
